In John Murray’s book, Redemption Accomplished and Applied, he writes, “Union with Christ is really the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation.”1 And Murray’s not alone in making that kind of statement. In looking at books in my library on the doctrine of salvation, almost all of the helpful ones make similar statements. Simply put, there is vast agreement in our Reformed Protestant tradition that the concept at the center of our salvation is that by faith we’re united with Christ, and all the benefits of our salvation come from being united with him.
Union with Christ is seen in biblical texts that speak of us dying with Christ or being raised with Christ, for example. The idea is that if our faith is in Christ, then we can say what’s true of him counts for us. If he’s lived a perfectly righteous life, and our faith rests in him alone, then his righteousness counts for us. If the payment for sin has been made by him in his sacrificial death, and our faith rests in him alone, then the payment for our sins has been made. If he has been raised from the dead so that he lives forever, and our faith rests in him alone, then we have resurrection life as well and even our bodies will be raised from the dead one day. And we could go on and on, simply noting the numerous ways in which being united with Christ brings us blessings.
However, union with Christ means even more than these truths concerning the benefits of our salvation. It also has impact for how we think, act, talk, and live. So, for example, Paul will remind the Corinthians that because they are united with Christ they cannot go and commit sexual immorality. He writes, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!” (1 Cor. 6:15). This idea of believers being one with Christ was taught to Paul at the very beginning of his Christian life, as he was persecuting the church and the risen Christ appeared to him in the sky, saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
Well, when we get to Mark 10:32-52, I think that one way of describing what we find in these verses is Jesus showing us something of what it means to be united with him. And what we’ll find it that union with Christ has drastic implications for how we think, speak, act, and live. This is what I want us to see this morning as we work through these verses together.
And the first thing we see is that . . .
Let’s look at the first few verses, and I’ll tell you why I think they remind us of this reality. Mark tells us that at this point in the gospel, Jesus finally turns toward Jerusalem. He sets his focus there and starts the journey. He is about the enter the holy city. And there must have been some kind of look in his eyes or intentionality on his face that hadn’t been seen before because Mark tells us that those around him were amazed and afraid. Perhaps Jesus displayed a “frightening determination” as he set his focus on Jerusalem.2
So, what is it that drove him so intently? Well, Mark tells us that Jesus took the twelve, and began to tell them what was going to happen, saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise” (vv. 33-34).
Now, if you put all of this together, there’s only a couple of ways to interpret this. Here are the facts: 1) Jesus knows that in Jerusalem he is going to be mocked, spat upon, flogged, and killed, and 2) Jesus is going up to Jerusalem. So, interpretation number one is that Jesus is crazy. I mean, most of the time, if people know that bad things are going to happen to them in one place, they avoid that place. So, for example, most of us who have small children have not only told them they should avoid the road, but we’ve told them what can happen if they do wander into the road. And the reason why we tell them is because even if they’re feeling a bit rebellious and don’t want to obey Dad and Mom that day, hopefully their will to live will kick in and convince them to avoid the road. Here, however, Jesus is going into the place where all the bad stuff would happen. So, we could say, “Well, maybe he’s just a crazy person. He doesn’t understand how this works.”
Or, there’s another interpretation. We could interpret Jesus’ words and actions to mean that Jesus was willingly giving himself to be put to death. And Jesus makes clear for us that this second interpretation is indeed the correct one when he says later in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Do you see? Jesus went to Jerusalem where he knew he was going to be mocked, spat upon, flogged, and killed because he was giving his life in order to ransom many. He was voluntarily laying down his life in order to ransom a people for himself. And if we ask, “Who exactly are the many?” the rest of the Scripture is clear that it is as many as would repent of their sins and place their faith in Christ. And if we ask why Christ would lay down his life for individuals in order to redeem them or ransom them from receiving the deserved punishment of bearing God’s wrath for their sins, the answer comes from Galatians 2:20, where Paul says, “The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” And we may equally say, “Christ loves us and gave himself up for us.”
What this means is, then, that when we place our faith in Christ, we are united with one who is a person – our Lord – who personally loves us and willingly gave himself up to the point of death for us. We cannot lose sight of this. This is our foundation. Indeed, obedience to Christ commands begins with loving him. If we don’t love him, we won’t obey him. If we don’t love him, we wont’ love others.
So, what then is the foundation of loving him? John tells us in 1 John 4:19, “We love because he first loved us.” Therefore, if our love for God is the foundation of our obedience to God and love for other people, and if the foundation of our love for God is realizing that he has first loved us, then knowing God’s love for us is foundational to us living a life that is honoring to God.
And I think I can just say practically in my brief experience of life that there are things I simply couldn’t continue to walk through in a God-honoring manner if I didn’t have the anchor of knowing with Paul that the Son loves me and gave himself for me. “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so” is not some song and truth we learn as children that we can discard when we reach adulthood. It is a sustaining truth for our Christian life.
So, right now, as you’re walking through whatever you’re walking through, and you cry out to the Lord in desperation, know that you’re crying out to one who loves you and gave himself for you. Being united with Christ means being united with one who loves us and gave himself for us.
Second, . . .
Now, this isn’t quite as comforting as the first point, is it? But it’s equally as true, and it’s very much why we must not lose sight of that first point.
After Jesus foretells his death and resurrection, James and John get to thinking. It seems their thinking goes like this: “Jesus is going to Jerusalem. He is the Messiah. Sure, he mentioned something about mocking, spitting, flogging, and death, but he also mentioned being raised. Jesus must be going to Jerusalem in order to establish his Messianic kingdom and set up his reign over the earth. And if we’re so close to this time when Christ is going to establish his glorious reign, we better strike while the iron’s hot and see if we can get him to grant us a position of great status now before someone else comes along as gets it.”
So, that’s exactly what they ask him. They first ask him to give them a blank check, saying, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you” (v. 35). But Jesus, instead of signing off on that, simply asks them, “What do you want me to do for you.” And they answered, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory” (v. 37).
Now, there are a few ways Jesus answers this request. One is that he says this it is the Father and not he who grants such a right. And another is the next point we’ll look at about service. But there is another here as well that we must not overlook. He tells James and John, “You do not know what you are asking” (v. 38). Now, in one sense they could say, “Of course we do. You are going to be shown to be the glorious King of all the universe, and we want to be one on your right and one on your left hand in your glorious kingdom.” And that wouldn’t be wrong. Jesus even confirms that such positions at his right and left hand exist by saying that those positions are “for whom it has been prepared” (v. 40). So, James and John are understanding perfectly what they’re asking in one sense, aren’t they?
What, then, don’t they understand about what they’re asking? I think it’s that the road to glory is filled with suffering, that the road to the crown goes by way of the cross. And the reason I think this is the point they’re missing is because after saying they don’t know what they’re asking, Jesus asks them a question. He asks, “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” (v. 38). And these images, the cup and baptism, are images of great suffering. Jesus was going to drink down the cup of God’s wrath at the cross and undergo a baptism of divine judgment for our sakes. That’s the path that he would take prior to his glorious resurrection.
And after answering that they are able, Jesus tells them they will indeed go through something similar. Of course James and John wouldn’t die for our sins and take God’s judgment for us, but they would encounter much suffering, persecution, and agony in this life in order to honor the Lord.
So, the lesson for us is that being united with one who lays down his life to the point of death means that we will share in his sufferings. Yes, one day we will be raised and share in his glory. But this side of the resurrection, we are called to share in his sufferings. In fact, Paul writes in Romans 8:17 that we are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” The road on which Christ calls us is a road of suffering.
This life will be filled with some great suffering we don’t choose. We will watch loved ones die because of no decisions we made. That is to say, they’ll die just like people all around us die. We’ll lose our possessions just like unbelievers do in fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, and theft. We’ll suffer things that the world does as well.
But there are other things that we’ll suffer because we’re seeking to honor and obey Christ. We’ll suffer ridicule because we’re doing something or standing for something the world scoffs at. We’ll suffer persecution because we’re believing something that the world hates. And you know what, this will be perfectly normal. There are right now believers whose faith in Christ has cost them everything. Their families have rejected them. They’ve had their possessions taken. Others have been imprisoned. Others are going to be killed. And as they stand strong in faith in Christ, we won’t be seeing a picture of super-Christianity. We’ll be seeing a picture of Christianity. This is normal. This is the road we walk when we are united with one who chose to sacrifice himself. This is what it means to follow Christ.
Let me then quote the words of Peter: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:12-13).
Third, . . .
Just as being united with one who suffered means we will suffer, so being united with one who served us means that we must serve others. The other way Jesus answers James and John’s question is by pointing out that they misunderstand their calling as being disciples of Christ.
After hearing their request, the other ten get mad at James and John. Probably they’re mad because they’re envious of these brothers’ sly thinking. That is, they’re probably asking why they didn’t think of it first. But Jesus jumps in and says that the values of his kingdom are different than those of the world. He answers them, “You know that those who are considered rules of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (vv. 42-45).
Now, that last verse is huge. Our Lord – God the Son – took on flesh in order to serve. And we’re united to him. I mean, if anyone had a right to refuse to serve anyone, it would be the Lord. He is, after all, the Lord. But he came to serve us and even die for us.
This means that if we are united with him, we must take our cues from him. He demands it. We cannot look down on others, thinking we’re superior to them. Proverbs tells us that the rich man answers the poor man roughly. Why? Because he thinks he’s superior, right? Well, we must not be like that. We must actually stoop to serve others, knowing that one infinitely greater than us stooped to serve us. No, rather he died to serve us.
So, again, I know we’ve seen this before as we’ve gone through Mark, but Jesus knows it’s worth repeating, we must strive to serve others. That’s how we pursue heavenly greatness.
Finally, . . .
In verses 46-52, I think we see a picture of what it looks like to follow Christ. Jesus is leaving Jericho, with a great crowd around him, when a blind getter, sitting by the roadside starts crying out to him. And the crowds try to silence him. After all, Jesus doesn’t have time for a blind beggar. Talk about the lowly in society. Here is one.
But instead of their rebukes causing him to be silent, Mark tells us that he “cried out all the more,” saying, “Son of David, have mercy on me” (v. 48). And Jesus stops and says to call the man over. They begin conversation, with the man eventually asking Jesus to give him sight, and Jesus, telling him that his faith has made him well, grants him his sight and he becomes a follower of Jesus.
But I’ve left out something important – his name. Mark doesn’t give us names. We don’t know of the names of people Jesus heals in Mark’s gospel. But we know this man’s name. It is Bartimaeus. We see it there in verse 46. And it seems that the reason Mark would have remembered his name (or Peter remembered his name) is because they came to know him, which probably means that he became part of the early church.
You can imagine Peter telling Mark this story and saying, “And you know who that blind beggar was. It was Bartimaeus. Yeah, that’s right. That’s when Bartimaeus started following Christ.”
But more than just being a neat story of how a blind man came to be a follower of Christ, it’s a picture to us of what it means to be united with Christ. You see, Bartimaeus stands in contrast it seems to the rich young man in Mark 10:17-31. That man had everything. He was young, a good guy, rich, and another gospel tells us he was a ruler. In contrast, Bartemaeus was a blind beggar with nothing. And only one of them becomes a follower of Christ.
Why? It is because Bartemaeus saw his need for Christ, knew Christ was his only hope, and wouldn’t stop crying out for mercy until Christ answered. And I think that’s a picture of what it means to be a follower of Christ, what it means to be united to Christ. It means that we become a people who desperately cry out to our Lord for mercy.
The Christian life is not about starting out and crying out for God to help you until you learn a lot, master a few things, and then can do it on your own. God the Father united us with his Son that that we might cry out to our Father for mercy. In fact, Paul tells us in Galatians 4:4-6, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’”
The Father united us with his Son, sending the Spirit of his Son into our hearts so that it might be natural for us to cry out to our Father. Therefore, one thing we may need to do this morning if our hearts are not in a place where that is our cry is ask God to help us feel our desperate state, help us feel our helplessness, and help us feel our need and insufficiency so that we might be moved to cry out to our Father who loves us and gave his Son to suffer for us and serve us so that we might know we can cry out to him.
As Jesus started toward Jerusalem, he told his disciples what it meant for him. He would suffer and die to serve them. Therefore, they must suffer and serve others as well. They need to see their need and cry out to him. And one day they would understand that he was doing this because he loved them and was giving himself for him. But that’s not all, is it? Jesus also told them that after three days he’d be raised from the dead. And he was. And what this means is that we too will one day be raised to reign with Christ in all his glory. So, until then, let us follow the one who loved us and served us through suffering, crying out to him for mercy and grace. In fact, let us cry out to him in faith now as we come to the table. Amen.